After a lot of misfortune and a whole host of errors coupled with some straight up mystery I've been advised to basically start fresh on my build. I wanted wanted to before but just didn't. I figured now would be a good time to start especially if something goes wrong again and someone can learn from what happens. First the backstory and tonight I'll post some pics when it's set back up.
The problems so far
-Petsmart had what the shelftag labeled as a 50 gallon. The tank however was 4 foot long which made me think it was a 55 gallon. Either way I had my light already ordered so I settled for a 40 gallon breeder. I like the dimensions but bigger is always better.
-The brand new canister filter I bought off of Amazon had a cracked outtake filter. Had to order a replacement.
-Decided to use playsand as my substrate since I heard of a lot of people online using it and I hadn't yet heard of using PFS. Cleaned the sand for 3 hours and thought it was clean so I put it in the tank. Nope...definitely not clean. Finished cleaning it in the tank after another 2 or 3 hours.
-Bought what looked like some nice pieces of DW off ebay. It was described as used. I was foolish and didn't ask more. Also I think when you say combined shipping that you're supposed to oh idk actually combine shipping. Threw out the immediately bad pieces and went to work on cleaning, boiling, and trying to sink the rest.
-Started up my filter and a few days later added some of the small DW pieces that were sinking. Ammonia levels soon tested off the charts. Rising ammonia would continue to haunt me and is the reason for the do over I'm now in. Got a better water conditioner hoping that was the problem.
-Bought some Amazon frogbit and dwarf water lettuce off ebay. The frogbit grew very fast for about 3 weeks before dying because of...well I'm not quite sure yet since I'm a plant newbie. The dwarf water lettuce? Well that was so smashed and broken that I managed to salvage 5 of the 20 plants. None of which managed any growth and died along with the frogbit although in a different manner. The frogbit turned brown while the water lettuce got holes in the leaves. More on this later if anyone cares.
-The driftwood in the tank started to crumble along with the pieces still not sinking after over a month. Not good at all so I replaced it with Malaysian DW. Even with a good buy I've now managed to spend over $200 on DW.
-Advised to start over to deal with my ammonia problem. Playsand was removed and discarded in the backyard. I did manage to put a small scratch in the back of the tank though when taking it out. Not noticeable but annoying none the less. The new DW was again washed and scrubbed. Tank cleaned with very mild bleach and allowed to air dry. The filter media was left alone since bacteria were present. Nitrites were dropping but ammonia was rising.
So that's the backstory. I kind of have to laugh when I actually write it all out. So today I'm decorating which is the part I love. As I said I'll have pics tonight when it's finished.
The problems so far
-Petsmart had what the shelftag labeled as a 50 gallon. The tank however was 4 foot long which made me think it was a 55 gallon. Either way I had my light already ordered so I settled for a 40 gallon breeder. I like the dimensions but bigger is always better.
-The brand new canister filter I bought off of Amazon had a cracked outtake filter. Had to order a replacement.
-Decided to use playsand as my substrate since I heard of a lot of people online using it and I hadn't yet heard of using PFS. Cleaned the sand for 3 hours and thought it was clean so I put it in the tank. Nope...definitely not clean. Finished cleaning it in the tank after another 2 or 3 hours.
-Bought what looked like some nice pieces of DW off ebay. It was described as used. I was foolish and didn't ask more. Also I think when you say combined shipping that you're supposed to oh idk actually combine shipping. Threw out the immediately bad pieces and went to work on cleaning, boiling, and trying to sink the rest.
-Started up my filter and a few days later added some of the small DW pieces that were sinking. Ammonia levels soon tested off the charts. Rising ammonia would continue to haunt me and is the reason for the do over I'm now in. Got a better water conditioner hoping that was the problem.
-Bought some Amazon frogbit and dwarf water lettuce off ebay. The frogbit grew very fast for about 3 weeks before dying because of...well I'm not quite sure yet since I'm a plant newbie. The dwarf water lettuce? Well that was so smashed and broken that I managed to salvage 5 of the 20 plants. None of which managed any growth and died along with the frogbit although in a different manner. The frogbit turned brown while the water lettuce got holes in the leaves. More on this later if anyone cares.
-The driftwood in the tank started to crumble along with the pieces still not sinking after over a month. Not good at all so I replaced it with Malaysian DW. Even with a good buy I've now managed to spend over $200 on DW.
-Advised to start over to deal with my ammonia problem. Playsand was removed and discarded in the backyard. I did manage to put a small scratch in the back of the tank though when taking it out. Not noticeable but annoying none the less. The new DW was again washed and scrubbed. Tank cleaned with very mild bleach and allowed to air dry. The filter media was left alone since bacteria were present. Nitrites were dropping but ammonia was rising.
So that's the backstory. I kind of have to laugh when I actually write it all out. So today I'm decorating which is the part I love. As I said I'll have pics tonight when it's finished.